He was seen as a brash, arrogant and aloof South African early
in his reign, but
no one can dispute the impact Graeme Smith had on the world stage as he
became the most successful captain in test history.

Smith's decision to retire from international cricket just nine weeks
after Jacques Kallis quit will usher in a new era for South African
cricket, which now finds itself shorn of experience and potentially in
a leadership crisis.

The 33-year-old's runs at the top of the order will be missed but so
too will his strength of character and grit in times of adversity.

He has, in many ways, been the face of South African cricket over the
last decade and played a key role in taking the side to the number one
position in the test rankings.

Thrust into the captaincy role at the age of 22 following the
resignation of Shaun Pollock after South Africa's miserable first round
exit at the 2003 World Cup on home soil, Smith admitted it took him
four or five years to settle into the job.

Captain
Courageous
- Career in Pics

While many South African cricket fans have struggled to warm to him,
few would argue that he deserves a place among the game's greats as he
has won a record 53 tests as captain, many of those thanks to his own
prowess with the bat.

Never the most elegant to watch, he bludgeoned his way to 27 test
centuries, five of them double-hundreds, the last of which came less
than five months ago against Pakistan in Dubai.

It has been his ability to grind out fourth innings runs, that has made
him so well respected in the international game.

He led his side to two series wins in Australia and a triumph in
England in 2012 that took the team to the summit of world cricket.

Despite suffering a series defeat to Australia in his
final test match, he leaves the side at the very top of the game.

Smith had spoken in the build-up to the third test of still having the
passion and desire for international cricket, of wanting to achieve
more with this team.

A fifth batting failure in as many innings in the series may have led
to him re-evaluating his future plans - the stark reality for South
Africa is that they are now not just looking for a new opening batsman
who can average close to 50 in test cricket but also a new leader.

There have only been a handful of regular captains of the national side
since readmission to international cricket in 1991 - Kepler Wessels,
Hansie Cronje, Pollock and Smith.

Choosing the right man to be number five on that list will be crucial.

One-day skipper AB de Villiers has been groomed for the test role and
is likely take on the job but it is a big task for a player who at
times has been the mainstay of the batting and also acts as
wicketkeeper.

One thing is for sure - these are big boots to fill.

Nick Said, Reuters

STATISTICS

(As at March 6,
2014)

Batting and
fielding averages

Mat

Inns

NO

Runs

HS

Avg

BF

SR

100

50

4s

6s

Ct

St

Tests

117

205

13

9265

277

48.25

15525

59.67

27

38

1165

24

169

0

ODIs

197

194

10

6989

141

37.98

8648

80.81

10

47

788

44

105

0

T20Is

33

33

2

982

89*

31.67

770

127.53

0

5

123

26

18

0

First-class

160

276

19

12653

311

49.23

36

50

231

0

List A

259

253

15

9331

141

39.2

14

67

137

0

Twenty20

84

84

6

2362

105

30.28

1914

123.4

1

11

290

50

35

0

Bowling
averages

Mat

Inns

Balls

Runs

Wkts

BBI

BBM

Avg

Econ

SR

4w

5w

10

Tests

117

37

1418

885

8

2/145

2/145

110.62

3.74

177.2

0

0

0

ODIs

197

43

1026

951

18

3/30

3/30

52.83

5.56

57

0

0

0

T20Is

33

3

24

57

0

-

-

-

14.25

-

0

0

0

First-class

160

1786

1132

11

2/145

102.9

3.8

162.3

0

0

List A

259

1968

1796

47

3/30

3/30

38.21

5.47

41.8

0

0

0

Twenty20

84

7

96

148

4

3/23

3/23

37

9.25

24

0

0

0

TEST STATISTICS IN DETAIL

Criteria

Mat

Runs

H/S

Bat
Avg

100s

Ct

v Australia

21

1238

122

32.57

3

36

v Bangladesh

8

743

232

82.55

3

12

v England

21

2051

277

56.97

7

34

v India

15

987

94

37.96

0

19

v New Zealand

13

847

125*

42.35

2

18

v Pakistan

16

1259

234

46.62

4

23

v Sri Lanka

7

385

74

35

0

10

v West Indies

14

1593

148

69.26

7

12

v Zimbabwe

2

162

121

81

1

5

year 2002

7

455

200

45.5

1

12

year 2003

12

1198

277

63.05

4

12

year 2004

11

921

139

46.05

2

7

year 2005

12

990

148

52.1

4

23

year 2006

8

405

68

27

0

9

year 2007

9

613

133

36.05

1

8

year 2008

15

1656

232

72

6

30

year 2009

5

213

75

30.42

0

5

year 2010

11

971

183

53.94

4

11

year 2011

5

322

101*

40.25

1

7

year 2012

10

825

131

48.52

3

23

year 2013

9

651

234

50.07

1

17

year 2014

3

45

14

7.5

0

5

won the toss

64

5046

277

45.87

13

83

lost the toss

53

4219

234

51.45

14

86

1st match innings

117

2877

277

50.47

10

61

2nd match innings

117

2831

259

48.81

9

50

3rd match innings

117

1946

183

42.3

4

36

4th match innings

81

1611

154*

51.96

4

22

won match

60

5214

259

61.34

18

102

lost match

30

1433

88

25.58

0

36

drawn match

27

2618

277

51.33

9

31

TEST RUNS - PER
INNINGS

ONE DAY INTERNATIONAL RUNS - PER
INNINGS

MATCHES AS TEST CAPTAIN
COMPARED TO TOP CAPTAINS

Player

Span

Mat

Won

Lost

Tied

Draw

W/L

%W

%L

GC
Smith (ICC/SA)

2003-2014

109

53

29

0

27

1.82

48.62

26.6

AR
Border (Aus)

1984-1994

93

32

22

1

38

1.45

34.4

23.65

SP
Fleming (NZ)

1997-2006

80

28

27

0

25

1.03

35

33.75

RT
Ponting (Aus)

2004-2010

77

48

16

0

13

3

62.33

20.77

CH
Lloyd (WI)

1974-1985

74

36

12

0

26

3

48.64

16.21

SR
Waugh (Aus)

1999-2004

57

41

9

0

7

4.55

71.92

15.78

A
Ranatunga (SL)

1989-1999

56

12

19

0

25

0.63

21.42

33.92

MA
Atherton (Eng)

1993-2001

54

13

21

0

20

0.61

24.07

38.88

WJ
Cronje (SA)

1994-2000

53

27

11

0

15

2.45

50.94

20.75

MS
Dhoni (India)

2008-2014

53

26

14

0

13

1.85

49.05

26.41

MP
Vaughan (Eng)

2003-2008

51

26

11

0

14

2.36

50.98

21.56

IVA
Richards (WI)

1980-1991

50

27

8

0

15

3.37

54

16

AJ
Strauss (Eng)

2006-2012

50

24

11

0

15

2.18

48

22

MA
Taylor (Aus)

1994-1999

50

26

13

0

11

2

52

26

SC
Ganguly (India)

2000-2005

49

21

13

0

15

1.61

42.85

26.53

GS
Chappell (Aus)

1975-1983

48

21

13

0

14

1.61

43.75

27.08

Imran
Khan (Pak)

1982-1992

48

14

8

0

26

1.75

29.16

16.66

M
Azharuddin (India)

1990-1999

47

14

14

0

19

1

29.78

29.78

SM
Gavaskar (India)

1976-1985

47

9

8

0

30

1.12

19.14

17.02

BC
Lara (WI)

1997-2006

47

10

26

0

11

0.38

21.27

55.31

MATCHES AS ODI CAPTAIN
COMPARED TO TOP CAPTAINS

Player

Span

Mat

Won

Lost

Tied

N/R

W/L

%W

%L

RT
Ponting (Aus/ICC)

2002-2012

230

165

51

2

12

3.24

76.14

22.17

SP
Fleming (NZ)

1997-2007

218

98

106

1

13

0.92

48.04

48.62

A
Ranatunga (SL)

1988-1999

193

89

95

1

8

0.94

48.37

49.22

AR
Border (Aus)

1985-1994

178

107

67

1

3

1.60

61.42

37.64

M
Azharuddin (India)

1990-1999

174

90

76

2

6

1.18

54.16

43.68

MS
Dhoni (India)

2007-2014

159

88

57

4

10

1.54

60.4

35.85

GC
Smith (Afr/SA)

2003-2011

150

92

51

1

6

1.80

64.23

34.00

SC
Ganguly (Asia/India)

1999-2005

147

76

66

0

5

1.15

53.52

44.90

Imran
Khan (Pak)

1982-1992

139

75

59

1

4

1.27

55.92

42.45

WJ
Cronje (SA)

1994-2000

138

99

35

1

3

2.83

73.7

25.36

DPMD
Jayawardene (Asia/SL)

2004-2013

129

71

49

1

8

1.45

59.09

37.98

BC
Lara (WI)

1994-2007

125

59

59

0

7

1

50

47.20

ST
Jayasuriya (SL)

1998-2003

118

66

47

2

3

1.40

58.26

39.83

Wasim
Akram (Pak)

1993-2000

109

66

41

2

0

1.61

61.46

37.61

SR
Waugh (Aus)

1997-2002

106

67

35

3

1

1.91

65.23

33.02

IVA
Richards (WI)

1980-1991

105

67

36

0

2

1.86

65.04

34.29

SM
Pollock (Afr/ICC/SA)

2000-2005

97

60

33

3

1

1.82

64.06

34.02

Inzamam-ul-Haq (Asia/Pak)

2002-2007

90

52

34

0

4

1.53

60.46

37.78

RB
Richardson (WI)

1991-1996

87

46

36

3

2

1.28

55.88

41.38

ADR
Campbell (Zim)

1996-2002

86

30

52

2

2

0.58

36.9

60.47

Top 20 opening test batsmen of
all time

Name

Span

Mat

Inns

N/O

Runs

H/S

Avg

100

50

0

SM
Gavaskar (India)

1971-1987

119

203

12

9607

221

50.29

33

42

11

GC
Smith (ICC/SA)

2002-2014

114

196

12

9030

277

49.07

27

36

11

ML
Hayden (Aus)

1994-2009

103

184

14

8625

380

50.73

30

29

14

V
Sehwag (ICC/India)

2002-2013

99

170

6

8207

319

50.04

22

30

15

G
Boycott (Eng)

1964-1982

107

191

23

8091

246*

48.16

22

42

10

GA
Gooch (Eng)

1978-1995

100

184

6

7811

333

43.88

18

41

9

MA
Taylor (Aus)

1989-1999

104

186

13

7525

334*

43.49

19

40

5

CG
Greenidge (WI)

1974-1991

107

182

16

7488

226

45.1

19

34

11

MA
Atherton (Eng)

1990-2001

108

197

6

7476

185*

39.14

16

45

17

DL
Haynes (WI)

1978-1994

116

201

25

7472

184

42.45

18

39

10

AN
Cook (Eng)

2006-2014

95

171

9

7469

294

46.1

23

33

7

CH
Gayle (WI)

2000-2013

95

165

8

6747

333

42.97

15

33

14

AJ
Strauss (Eng)

2004-2012

97

171

6

6741

169

40.85

20

27

14

L
Hutton (Eng)

1937-1955

76

131

12

6721

364

56.47

19

31

5

ST
Jayasuriya (SL)

1994-2007

90

152

9

5932

340

41.48

13

25

12

ME
Trescothick (Eng)

2000-2006

76

142

9

5824

219

43.78

14

29

12

G
Kirsten (SA)

1993-2002

84

149

12

5726

275

41.79

14

28

13

MS
Atapattu (SL)

1997-2007

79

136

13

5317

249

43.22

16

17

16

MJ
Slater (Aus)

1993-2001

74

131

7

5312

219

42.83

14

21

9

JG
Wright (NZ)

1978-1993

80

144

6

5260

185

38.11

12

23

7

FACTBOX

* Born Feb. 1, 1981 in Johannesburg

EARLY CAREER

* Promising schoolboy cricketer at King Edward School in Johannesburg,
picked for South Africa's under-19 team.

* Left-handed opener, who played his initial first-class cricket for
Gauteng but soon moved to Cape Town at the age of 18 to play for
Western Province.

TEST ACHIEVEMENTS

* Test debut against Australia in 2002 at Newlands, one month after his
21st birthday. Scored 68 in the second innings, batting No. 3, but
South Africa lost.

* Took over as captain in his ninth test, with many sceptical about his
leadership ability at age of 22. Won his first test as captain against
Bangladesh by an innings and 60 runs.

* Made double centuries in consecutive tests - 277 at Edgbaston and 259
at Lords - on tour in England in 2003.

* His games as captain are 108 for South Africa and one for the ICC
World XI against Australia in October 2005.

* Set a world record 415 for the first wicket with Neil McKenzie
against Bangladesh at Chittagong in early 2008. They had finished day
one with 405 runs, the most ever put on by a pair in a single day of
test cricket without losing a wicket.

* Led South Africa to an away test series win over Australia in 2008 -
their first home loss in almost two decades. His heroics in batting
despite a broken hand in an attempt to save the third test won over
many fans.

* Smith has led his side to 53 test victories, with a win percentage of
49.07. It is the most victories for a captain in test history.

* Wanted to relinquish the captaincy after the 2011 World Cup in India,
where he took the rap for the team's brittle middle order, but was
persuaded to stay on as test skipper by coach and former team mate Gary
Kirsten.

* Led South Africa to test series wins over England and Australia in
2012 to confirm the country's status as the top test-playing nation.

RECORDS AS CAPTAIN

* He is the only captain to score 8000 runs - 8659 - in the annals of
Test cricket in his career. He is the only captain to score 8000 runs
representing a specific team – South Africa.

* He is one of the three captains to
score 3000 runs - 3380 - on
home soil. Others are – Ricky Ponting {3555} and Allan Border {3448}.

* His 3380 runs is a record aggregate Test runs
by a South African
captain for the most runs at home. He is the first non-Australian
captain to amass 3000 runs at home.

* He also holds the record for a non-Australian
captain to score 3000
runs at home. The previous best was 2820 by GA Gooch of England.

* His 27 hundreds is also a record for most
hundreds by a captain in the
annals of Test cricket. It is interesting to note that he is the only
captain to score 20 hundreds in Tests.

* He is one of the three captains to score more
than 30 half-centuries in
Tests. The other two captains are – AR Border {35}, RT Ponting {35}.
Smith has scored 38.

* He has played most number of Tests on away
soil as captain – 56 – to be
exact. He is the second captain to play most away Tests after CH Lloyd
who has played 50 Tests on away soil. Thus GC Smith holds the record
for captaining in most away Tests.

* He has scored most runs in away Tests – 5279 –
to be exact. His 277
runs against England at Birmingham in July 2003 represent the highest
individual score by a South African captain in an away Test.

* He remains the only captain to score 200 plus
runs in consecutive Tests
in his first two appearances as captain. This statistics holds good for
a captain leading in away Tests. He scored 277 against England at
Birmingham in Jul 2003 and followed it up with 259 against England at
Lord's in July 2003.

* He has scored 17 hundreds in away Tests which
is a record for most
hundreds by a captain in away Tests. He is the only captain to score
ten or more hundreds in away Tests.

* His 19 half centuries is also a record for
most fifties by a captain in
away Tests.

* He is the first non-Australian captain to hold
the record for the
highest individual score in a away Test. He scored 277 against England
at Birmingham in Jul 2003. Mark Taylor and Bob Simpson are the other
two captains to score 300 plus runs in an away Test. Taylor scored 334
not out against Pakistan at Peshawar in Oct 1998, while Simpson scored
311 against England at Manchester in July 1964.

* He became the first left handed captain to
appear in 100 plus Tests on
February 1, 2013 when he led South Africa against Pakistan at
Johannesburg.

* He has an aggregate of 8538 runs which is a
record aggregate for a left
hander captain opening batsman in the annals of Test cricket.

* He holds the record for most hundreds by a
captain in Test wins – 16
hundreds – to be exact. RT Ponting has 14 hundreds by a captain in Test
wins.

* He holds the record for most number of runs in
a calendar year as
captain. He has scored 1656 runs in 2008. He is one of the six captains
to score 1000 runs in a calendar year on two or more occasions.

* Smith is one of the two captains to appear in
15 Tests in a calendar
year after RT Ponting. Smith appeared in 15 Tests in 2008 while Ponting
appeared in the same number of Tests in 2005. Both these captains share
the record for most number of Test in a calendar year.

* Smith also holds the record for most catches
in a calendar year – 30
catches. He set this record in 2008 overhauling Mark Taylor's record of
27 catches in 1997.

* Smith holds the record for most catches by a
Test captain – 155. He is
one of the two captains to pouch 100 plus catches as Test captain in
the annals of Test cricket – the other being SP Fleming of New Zealand
who has pouched 132 catches.

* Smith is one of the three captains to pouch 50
plus catches on home
soil – GC Smith - 75, SP Fleming - 69 and MA Taylor - 55.

* Smith's 80 catches is a record for most caches
by a captain on away
soil. He is one of the two captains to pouch 50 plus catches on away
soil – the other being Stephen Fleming who has taken 63 catches.